Modern elevator systems allow passengers to request elevator service in various ways. Some systems provide conventional hall call buttons that allow a passenger to indicate a desire to travel up or down from a particular landing. A car operating panel in an elevator car allows the passenger to indicate the floor to which the passenger desires to travel. Other systems include destination entry passenger interfaces that allow a passenger to indicate a desired destination before the passenger boards an elevator car. Such systems assign an elevator car to each passenger according to known car assignment algorithms.
The destination entry systems can improve elevator service for passengers by handling larger traffic volumes more efficiently and avoiding elevator lobby crowding, for example. One issue presented by such systems, however, is that the car assignments are made without any information regarding the actual space requirements of any particular passenger. If a passenger has a large item or other people that will also be on the elevator car, that space requirement is not accounted for by the car assignment algorithm. It is possible, therefore, to have crowded elevator cars.
One attempt at addressing this situation is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0308695. That solution allows a passenger to indicate a need for additional space on an elevator car